Three unanswered goals put Tigres one win away from President Cup
The Victoriaville Tigres are one win away from their first President Cup win in almost two decades thanks to a 3-1 triumph over the Val-d’Or Foreurs in Game 5 of the 2021 President Cup Final presented by Rogers. With the win, the Tigres now lead the best-of-seven series, three games to two.
Olivier Coulombe, Nicolas Daigle and Benjamin Tardif scored for the Tigres while Jakob Pelletier replied for the Foreurs, who outshot Victoriaville 34-22 during the contest.
The Foreurs would break the ice 11:51 into the opening frame when Pelletier, accepting a feed from behind the net from Samuel Poulin, cruised along the lip of the crease and tucked the puck past Nikolas Hurtubise’s outstretched pad for his fifth of the postseason.
The Tigres would tie things up with just over a minute and a half remaining in the first. Maxime Pellerin, keeping the play alive along the boards, shoveled the puck to Coulombe in the slot who wasted no time burying a wrister past Jonathan Lemieux for his third of the playoffs. Val-d’Or would go to the room holding a 10-6 shots advantage after 20 minutes.
After a scoreless second period that saw the Foreurs outshoot Victoriaville 11-6 this time around, the Tigres wasted no time breaking the deadlock in the third. Just 54 seconds in, Alex Beaucage, while facing the end boards, threaded a perfect pass to Daigle, whose low wrist shot eluded Lemieux for his seventh postseason marker.
The Tigres would double their lead at the 9:07 mark following a defensive miscue by the Foreurs in their own end. Mikhail Abramov would strip the puck from the Foreurs defender before feeding it over to an uncontested Tardif who outwaited Lemieux with a backhand shot along the ice for his 11th goal.
Hurtubise, back between the pipes for the Tigres after Fabio Iacobo got the nod in Game 4, was named the second star of the game thanks to an impressive 33-save performance. Lemieux stopped 19 shots in the loss.
The Tigres will look to bring the QMJHL season to an end on Saturday at 2pm ET/3pm AT when they take on the Foreurs in Game 6. Tickets remain available for this game.
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